Northglenn neighbors up in arms about planned mental health facility that could house sex offenders

A plan by the Colorado Department of Human Services to house up to 32 people with severe mental illness — possibly including sex offenders — in a Northglenn neighborhood near schools and playgrounds has energized neighbors to do what they can to stop it.

Conflicting details about the proposal have swirled throughout the community in recent weeks, but Melanie Buffington, who has lived near the proposed site in her north suburban neighborhood for the better part of a decade, said she’s concerned. She has two children who go to nearby Stukey Elementary School — one in kindergarten and one in fourth grade.

“I definitely think they shouldn’t be anywhere near children that could provoke them to re-offend,” Buffington said. “Being a registered sex offender — you don’t rehabilitate from that, in my opinion.”

The city will host a community meeting on the proposal at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the recreation center at 1 East Memorial Parkway. It is expected to be well-attended.

The proposal from the state Office of Civil and Forensic Mental Health has prompted the creation of an online petition in opposition, which had collected nearly 1,000 signatures as of Monday. Meanwhile, the state lawmaker representing the Adams County city of 40,000 penned a letter last month to the state agency expressing concern about opening the mental health transitional living facility at that location.

In her March 18 letter, Rep. Jenny Willford noted that Stukey Elementary is less than 900 feet away from the proposed two-building facility at 11255 and 11275 Grant Drive, while the playground at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church is just over 500 feet away.

“The property previously operated as an assisted living facility for older adults and I am concerned that housing registered sex offenders at this location is a significant change in use that is incompatible with this particular neighborhood,” she wrote.

But Jordan Saenz, communications manager for the Office of Civil and Forensic Mental Health, said bad information has been floating around about just how many sex offenders would be living at the Northglenn facility. Willford, in her letter, said the buildings will “likely house 32 registered sex offenders,” but Saenz told The Denver Post there will be “a cap of two sex offenders being served between these two homes at any given time.”

“There was never any plan to house 32 sex offenders in these homes,” she said.

The facility, Saenz said, is part of Colorado’s Mental Health Transitional Living Homes program that was created by the legislature two years ago. The law is designed to help transition people with mental illness from a hospital setting to a lower level of care on their journey back into the community. The bill calls for the state to create, develop or contract with providers for 125 beds statewide to accommodate those moving through different levels of care.

The site, which used to serve as a senior care facility run by the state, is scheduled to open in May with 16 people placed in each of the two buildings. Rep. Judy Amabile, D-Boulder, was a sponsor of the mental health housing bill in 2022.

“I understand that people with mental illness scare people,” she said. “Putting out information that this was sex offender housing played into people’s fears.”

The law, she said, was designed to provide people with mental illness proper treatment and keep them from ending up on the streets. The clients in Northglenn, Amabile said, will be monitored around the clock during their stay as they attempt to find work and go to medical appointments.

“It’s a critical part of the continuum of care — that’s what the bill was about and what these beds are for,” she said.

But Meredith Leighty, mayor of Northglenn, said the community wasn’t informed about the state’s plans until it felt like the whole thing was already a done deal. And regardless of the number of sex offenders who might eventually take up residence at the facility, she said, it’s not the right place.

“Our absolute goal is that there are no registered sex offenders at that address — it is absolutely not where it should be,” Leighty said. “It is really about us making sure that our community is safe.”

Father Ernest Bayer, pastor at Immaculate Heart of Mary, said his church is adjacent to the proposed site. The church hosts 250 pre-school through fifth-grade students every week for religious instruction and 100 middle and high school students twice a week for the same.

“There are a lot of children who walk across our parking lot on their way to Stukey Elementary,” Bayer said. “They’re walking smack right in front of the proposed facility. Are we setting up these sex offenders to be tempted?”